Hawkeye Tip Time
Tom Kakert | Editor
Indiana Hoosiers (23-6, 13-3) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (20-8, 11-5)
Tip Time: 8:05 p.m.
TV: ESPN – Mike Tirico, Dan Dakich, and Allison Williams on the call.
Location: Carver-Hawkeye ArenaHistory:
THE LINE: Iowa is a 3.5 point favorite.
THE LINEUPS
INDIANA
Thomas Bryant – 11.7 ppg
Max Biefieldt – 8.1 ppg
Troy Williams – 12.6 ppg
Nick Zeisloft – 6.6 ppg
Yogi Ferrell -17.0 ppg
IOWA
Adam Woodbury – 8.0 ppg
Jarrod Uthoff – 18.5 ppg
Peter Jok – 16.3 ppg
Anthony Clemmons – 9.1 ppg
Mike Gesell – 8.6 ppg
Senior night for the Hawkeyes
USA Today Sports
PLAYER TO WATCH
Troy Williams - Every team has that barometer guy. He’s the guy that when he’s going well, the team is going really well and then they struggle and make mistakes, the team generally struggles more than they should. Williams is that guy from Indiana. When he’s clicking, like he was for the Hoosiers in their first meeting with the Hawkeyes when he posted 13 points and 7 rebounds. When he gets out on the break, his dunks can change the course of a game. But, he has played out of control at time in the past and that has led to some ugly games. In recent weeks, Williams has shown a great deal more maturity to his game and that’s why the Hoosiers have been on a roll of late. Indiana gets their leadership from Yogi Ferrell, but they get their energy and swagger from the wild card that is Troy Williams. Iowa will need to limit him in transition and keep him off the glass.
KEY MATCH-UP
Mike Gesell vs. Yogi Ferrell – In the first meeting everyone assumed that Anthony Clemmons would draw the assignment of Indiana’s point guard, but it was Gesell that had the task of facing Ferrell. Gesell took on the challenge and Ferrell did score 14 points, 8 of them came from the foul line and he was just 2-12 from the floor and 2-9 from three. He also only had one assist. Meanwhile, Gesell was 5-9 from the floor, scored 17 points, and handed out 6 assists. Round two in this battle of senior point guards takes place on Tuesday night and if Iowa is going to have a chance to win this game, they have to keep Ferrell in check to at least the same level as the previous meeting. Gesell is coming off a strong performance against Ohio State where he was aggressive in taking the ball to the basket and needs to continue that along with playing strong defense and limit Ferrell getting to the paint.
STATS AND NOTES
They are currently ranked 15th in both the Associated Press Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll. This will be the final home game for Iowa seniors Adam Woodbury, Anthony Clemmons, Mike Gesell, Jarrod Uthoff, and Okey Ukah. Uthoff is a late season finalist for the John Wooden Award and one of 11 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Award. Uthoff has scored 1,191 points in his Iowa career. That is good for 21st on Iowa’s all-time list. He has 76 blocks this season, which is good for 7th all-time in a single season. Uthoff has 166 career blocks, which is the 4th most in Hawkeye basketball history. Mike Gesell has 1,046 career points, which is 42nd in Iowa basketball history. He has also handed out 521 career assists, which is the 4th best total in Hawkeye history. Peter Jok has 798 career points and with his next basket he will reach 800 career points. This season, Iowa is 16-1 when they lead at halftime and just 3-7 when they trail at the break. Iowa is 3-0 in games played on Tuesday this season. The Hawkeyes are 1-2 this year in games on ESPN.
THE PICK
The wiggle room that the Hawkeyes had coming into last week is now completely gone and if Iowa is going to get a share of their first Big Ten title since 1979, they need some help. That help could come in the form of their own doing as Indiana holds a two game lead over the Hawkeyes heading into the final two games of the regular season. Iowa needs to win this game and then beat Michigan and hope Maryland can beat the Hooisers on Sunday if they want to get a share of the Big Ten crown.
Right now, Iowa can’t worry about Big Ten titles. They have to worry about righting their ship. The Hawkeyes have now dropped three in a row and four of their last five. They haven’t won a game in nearly two weeks and their once confident play has disappeared. If you are reading this and feel like you have been here before, you have and it was two years ago when the Hawkeyes dropped seven of their last eight.
With all of that said, there are must wins and this is probably one of them for the Hawkeyes. Put the Big Ten title talk to the, this once promising season where Iowa was once ranked #3 in the country and steamrolling towards a #1 seed a few weeks ago is now in the balance. A win could potentially help get this Iowa team’s mojo going once again and perhaps they get back on track and make a run in the most important month for college basketball teams.
What can they do to get back on track? It’s really pretty simple, but not all that easy. They need to start hitting shots once again and guarding the three point line much better than they have in the past couple of weeks. We saw the ugly three point issues surface again on Sunday when they gave up three late three pointers. We also saw the ugly shooting from the Hawkeyes, who shot just 41% from the floor and made just 3-12 from three point range.
How does Iowa win the game? Remember back a few weeks ago, the Hawkeyes played very well against the Hoosiers in Bloomington, taking a lead in the second half before fading down the stretch. By the way, that was the last time the Hawkeyes shot better than 45% from the floor. It was also a game where the Hawkeyes got zero, yes, zero points off the bench.
Iowa’s going to need their bench to step up in this one. The Hawkeyes played Sunday afternoon, so it will be basically 48 hours later when they play this game, so the bench has to provide a boost for the starters, who might have tired legs.
They also need Jarrod Uthoff to return to form. They need Peter Jok to get healthy after battling a bug in the past week and find his shot once again. All of this is easy to write, but difficult to know if it will actually happen. They also need either Gesell or Clemmons to step up into the third scorer role.
On the Indiana side, they will likely be without guard Robert Johnson, who injured his ankle recently. In the first meeting, Johnson made some big plays and scored 13 points, including three from beyond the arch. They need to identify guys like Nick Zeisloft, who will likely start and threw in three from distance in their win. They also need to keep Biefieldt and Bryant off the glass. Bryant battled foul trouble and still pulled down 7 rebounds. Since moving into the starting lineup, Biefledt has really given them a boost offensively and on the glass.
There should be plenty of energy and emotion in Carver-Hawkeye for the final game of the four senior starters. Can Iowa channel that emotion into a positive result? Yes, they certainly can, but when you make a prediction, you have to use your head and not your heart. You have to base it on what you see and not what you want to see. Iowa has turned into Indiana from earlier this season, which was a real struggling team that lacked confidence. Indiana has turned into the Iowa team we saw early in the Big Ten season that was playing with swagger every time they came on the floor and raining in three pointers. Go with what you have seen. INDIANA 77 IOWA 72
Tom Kakert | Editor
Indiana Hoosiers (23-6, 13-3) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (20-8, 11-5)
Tip Time: 8:05 p.m.
TV: ESPN – Mike Tirico, Dan Dakich, and Allison Williams on the call.
Location: Carver-Hawkeye ArenaHistory:
THE LINE: Iowa is a 3.5 point favorite.
THE LINEUPS
INDIANA
Thomas Bryant – 11.7 ppg
Max Biefieldt – 8.1 ppg
Troy Williams – 12.6 ppg
Nick Zeisloft – 6.6 ppg
Yogi Ferrell -17.0 ppg
IOWA
Adam Woodbury – 8.0 ppg
Jarrod Uthoff – 18.5 ppg
Peter Jok – 16.3 ppg
Anthony Clemmons – 9.1 ppg
Mike Gesell – 8.6 ppg
Senior night for the Hawkeyes
USA Today Sports
PLAYER TO WATCH
Troy Williams - Every team has that barometer guy. He’s the guy that when he’s going well, the team is going really well and then they struggle and make mistakes, the team generally struggles more than they should. Williams is that guy from Indiana. When he’s clicking, like he was for the Hoosiers in their first meeting with the Hawkeyes when he posted 13 points and 7 rebounds. When he gets out on the break, his dunks can change the course of a game. But, he has played out of control at time in the past and that has led to some ugly games. In recent weeks, Williams has shown a great deal more maturity to his game and that’s why the Hoosiers have been on a roll of late. Indiana gets their leadership from Yogi Ferrell, but they get their energy and swagger from the wild card that is Troy Williams. Iowa will need to limit him in transition and keep him off the glass.
KEY MATCH-UP
Mike Gesell vs. Yogi Ferrell – In the first meeting everyone assumed that Anthony Clemmons would draw the assignment of Indiana’s point guard, but it was Gesell that had the task of facing Ferrell. Gesell took on the challenge and Ferrell did score 14 points, 8 of them came from the foul line and he was just 2-12 from the floor and 2-9 from three. He also only had one assist. Meanwhile, Gesell was 5-9 from the floor, scored 17 points, and handed out 6 assists. Round two in this battle of senior point guards takes place on Tuesday night and if Iowa is going to have a chance to win this game, they have to keep Ferrell in check to at least the same level as the previous meeting. Gesell is coming off a strong performance against Ohio State where he was aggressive in taking the ball to the basket and needs to continue that along with playing strong defense and limit Ferrell getting to the paint.
STATS AND NOTES
They are currently ranked 15th in both the Associated Press Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll. This will be the final home game for Iowa seniors Adam Woodbury, Anthony Clemmons, Mike Gesell, Jarrod Uthoff, and Okey Ukah. Uthoff is a late season finalist for the John Wooden Award and one of 11 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Award. Uthoff has scored 1,191 points in his Iowa career. That is good for 21st on Iowa’s all-time list. He has 76 blocks this season, which is good for 7th all-time in a single season. Uthoff has 166 career blocks, which is the 4th most in Hawkeye basketball history. Mike Gesell has 1,046 career points, which is 42nd in Iowa basketball history. He has also handed out 521 career assists, which is the 4th best total in Hawkeye history. Peter Jok has 798 career points and with his next basket he will reach 800 career points. This season, Iowa is 16-1 when they lead at halftime and just 3-7 when they trail at the break. Iowa is 3-0 in games played on Tuesday this season. The Hawkeyes are 1-2 this year in games on ESPN.
THE PICK
The wiggle room that the Hawkeyes had coming into last week is now completely gone and if Iowa is going to get a share of their first Big Ten title since 1979, they need some help. That help could come in the form of their own doing as Indiana holds a two game lead over the Hawkeyes heading into the final two games of the regular season. Iowa needs to win this game and then beat Michigan and hope Maryland can beat the Hooisers on Sunday if they want to get a share of the Big Ten crown.
Right now, Iowa can’t worry about Big Ten titles. They have to worry about righting their ship. The Hawkeyes have now dropped three in a row and four of their last five. They haven’t won a game in nearly two weeks and their once confident play has disappeared. If you are reading this and feel like you have been here before, you have and it was two years ago when the Hawkeyes dropped seven of their last eight.
With all of that said, there are must wins and this is probably one of them for the Hawkeyes. Put the Big Ten title talk to the, this once promising season where Iowa was once ranked #3 in the country and steamrolling towards a #1 seed a few weeks ago is now in the balance. A win could potentially help get this Iowa team’s mojo going once again and perhaps they get back on track and make a run in the most important month for college basketball teams.
What can they do to get back on track? It’s really pretty simple, but not all that easy. They need to start hitting shots once again and guarding the three point line much better than they have in the past couple of weeks. We saw the ugly three point issues surface again on Sunday when they gave up three late three pointers. We also saw the ugly shooting from the Hawkeyes, who shot just 41% from the floor and made just 3-12 from three point range.
How does Iowa win the game? Remember back a few weeks ago, the Hawkeyes played very well against the Hoosiers in Bloomington, taking a lead in the second half before fading down the stretch. By the way, that was the last time the Hawkeyes shot better than 45% from the floor. It was also a game where the Hawkeyes got zero, yes, zero points off the bench.
Iowa’s going to need their bench to step up in this one. The Hawkeyes played Sunday afternoon, so it will be basically 48 hours later when they play this game, so the bench has to provide a boost for the starters, who might have tired legs.
They also need Jarrod Uthoff to return to form. They need Peter Jok to get healthy after battling a bug in the past week and find his shot once again. All of this is easy to write, but difficult to know if it will actually happen. They also need either Gesell or Clemmons to step up into the third scorer role.
On the Indiana side, they will likely be without guard Robert Johnson, who injured his ankle recently. In the first meeting, Johnson made some big plays and scored 13 points, including three from beyond the arch. They need to identify guys like Nick Zeisloft, who will likely start and threw in three from distance in their win. They also need to keep Biefieldt and Bryant off the glass. Bryant battled foul trouble and still pulled down 7 rebounds. Since moving into the starting lineup, Biefledt has really given them a boost offensively and on the glass.
There should be plenty of energy and emotion in Carver-Hawkeye for the final game of the four senior starters. Can Iowa channel that emotion into a positive result? Yes, they certainly can, but when you make a prediction, you have to use your head and not your heart. You have to base it on what you see and not what you want to see. Iowa has turned into Indiana from earlier this season, which was a real struggling team that lacked confidence. Indiana has turned into the Iowa team we saw early in the Big Ten season that was playing with swagger every time they came on the floor and raining in three pointers. Go with what you have seen. INDIANA 77 IOWA 72
